Friday delivers our weekly Sky Sports Focus article, as we take a look back at the previous round of action before preparing you for the forthcoming Gameweek, starting with tonight’s kick-off at the London Stadium.
We’ll examine the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, the bonus point beneficiaries, transfer trends and Watchlist, before moving on to the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 15 Man of the Match Awards
These were the players who caught the eye of the Sky Sports reporters and earned an extra five points as a result.
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur | Mesut Ozil |
| Crystal Palace vs Everton | Ruben Loftus-Cheek |
| West Brom vs Chelsea | Eden Hazard |
| Bournemouth vs Huddersfield | Callum Wilson |
| Liverpool vs Southampton | Mohamed Salah |
| Leicester vs Man City | Leroy Sane |
| Burnley vs Swansea | Ashley Barnes |
| Man United vs Newcastle | Paul Pogba |
| Watford vs West Ham | Will Hughes |
| Brighton vs Stoke | Eric Choupo-Moting |
Midfielders dominated the awards this week, with only Ashley Barnes and Callum Wilson bucking the trend.
Mohamed Salah picked up his fourth accolade of the season, and a second successive award – he now tops the MoTM table alongside Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne.
Eric Choupo-Moting, Leroy Sane, Eden Hazard and Mesut Ozil all collected their second gong and look good options moving forward.
Will Hughes, at 7.5, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (7.3) also threw their hats in the ring as budget options, although with Brazilian starlet Richarlison at just 7.6, they are unlikely to attract too much attention.
Gameweek 15 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 18 points or more in bonus for the season.
Man City players continue to dominate the bonus points, with six Sky Blues placed in the top ten positions.
Fantasy Football Scout members can access all information regarding bonus points using player stats and clicking the Sky Sports tab.
The Transfer Trends
Top Transfers Out
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Jones | Man United | 7.5 | 8% |
| Lascelles | Newcastle | 6.8 | 6.3% |
| Schindler | Huddersfield | 6 | 5.4% |
| Otamendi | Man City | 8.6 | 4.8% |
| Hegazi | West Brom | 6.2 | 4.2% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Ward | Burnley | 6.2 | 7% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 6.5 | 5.6% |
| Richarlison | Watford | 7.6 | 5.1% |
| Tarkowski | Burnley | 6.1 | 3.2% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 2.9% |
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 16.80
Top 100 – 18.12
Top 1,000 – 19.08
Top 5,000 – 19.81
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 29.6% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 18.7% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 6.3% |
| Lacazette | Arsenal | 11.8 | 3.3% |
| Gross | Brighton | 7.3 | 3.2% |
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership who I think could be good options for the coming six weeks.
Three specific price brackets will be used to cater for our available budgets.
The players will evolve with fixtures and form, and offer Fantasy managers a nudge in the right direction.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Andreas Christensen 6.4 0.5% | Charlie Daniels 7.5 4.7% | Shkodran Mustafi 8.8 1.1% |
| Midfielder | Ruben Loftus-Cheek 7.3 1.3% | Wilfried Zaha 9.3 3.7% | Eden Hazard 11.8 4% |
| Forward | Tammy Abraham 8.6 6.2% | Josh King 10.3 1.6% | Alexis Sanchez 12.7 3% |
My Team
Pope
Stones Otamendi Femenia Jorgensen
Hazard De Bruyne Salah Richarlison
Lukaku Kane
ITB: 0
Transfers remaining: 25/40
Last week’s points: 103
Overall points: 967
Rank: 583
Notes
I head into the top 1,000 after back-to-back weeks of over 100 points – and that was despite Nicolas Otamendi being suspended and John Stones withdrawn early on through injury.
My midfield is carrying the team at present, as Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Richarlison netted me 69 points between them. Each of those players is the “star man” in their respective teams and I’m now coveting another in Paul Pogba.
The Frenchman grabbed 16 points on his return to the United starting XI, picking up where he left off before his injury. He now looks a better option in Sky Sports than team-mate Romelu Lukaku, particularly with Zlatan Ibrahimovic lurking. Working out how best to work Pogba into my team is the issue, however.
A move to 4-5-1 looks my only way without wholesale changes. Removing the injured John Stones, Lukaku and Mathias Jorgensen for Phil Jones, Andreas Christensen and Pogba is my current thinking, although with Jones currently injured and Christensen far from an assured starter, I’m still uncertain on those trades.
I may well hold off until Tuesday and Wednesday to gain more information before committing my transfers.
Captain Plan
Fri 24th – None
Sat 25th – Kane (WBA)
Sun 26th – De Bruyne (hud)
Tues 28th – Kane (lei)
Weds 29th – Hazard (SWA)
Weekly Articles and Podcast
As well as the weekly Focus article, I’ll be talking through the week’s action and upcoming plans with Fantasy Football Scout posters Buffrey and Lewis on our regular podcast – the latest episode can be found here.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
After winning the League of Leagues in each of the last four seasons, we’re looking to defend our crown in 2017/18.
Get your teams in – the name is FFScout and the pin number to join is 8300422.
